Consumer electronics of almost any size now include controllers or processors and perform many functions that used to be exclusively within the domain of the desktop computer. One category of such devices, mobile devices, previously dedicated to receiving limited data such as alphanumeric paging, is now being utilized to receive other data in addition to alphanumeric paging. Some mobile devices now allow users to connect to the Internet and browse web sites; other mobile devices now allow users to check and send email. Those devices, and other devices, receive data asynchronously that is transmitted over a wireless communications link. To ensure proper reception of that data, the system should provide some mechanism for identifying what data has been received.
In other words, when transmitting data, a transmitting entity generally transmits a stream of data to a receiving entity. If the receiving entity begins receiving the data at some point other than at the beginning of the stream, the receiving entity should be able to identify what portion of the stream has been received. Often, if the receiving entity and the transmitting entity use different clocks, identifying exactly what portion of the stream has been received is difficult. One solution to this problem is to simply not support the reception of anything less than the entire stream. This is less than a desirable solution. However, an efficient and usable solution to this problem has eluded those skilled in the art.